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Ghostbusters has become one of the most iconic franchises in pop culture history over the four decades since the original film premiered in 1984. Five movies have been released so far, and most of them are set within the original continuity of Venkman, Spengler, Ray, Winston, and the evil Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. That said, the franchise expanded into an animated TV show back in the '80s, before the first sequel was produced. The Real Ghostbusters was a surprisingly solid animated series, and set a high standard for Netflix's upcoming show, called Ghostbusters: Night Shift.
Ghostbusters: Night Shift will be animated as well, and is set in the years following the events of Ghostbusters II. While the series won't premiere on Netflix until 2027, there are already reasons to believe that Night Shift will be significantly more true to Ghostbusters canon than Stranger Things: Tales from '85 was to Stranger Things elsewhere on the streaming platform. Enough time has also passed since The Real Ghostbusters that Night Shift will likely be the first animated show in the franchise that many fans will ever see.
The new show has some talent from the original movies attached, although the lead characters won't be Venkman and the rest of the main team. In fact, details about the new leads are few and far between at the time of writing, but what's already clear is that Ghostbusters: Night Shift has a lot to live up to as the franchise's most high-profile TV show since The Real Ghostbusters ended its excellent run in 1991.
The Real Ghostbusters Set High Standards For Animated Shows In The Franchise
The massive success of the first Ghostbusters film in 1984 all but guaranteed that the franchise would continue to grow, and the main characters officially came to television in 1986. Although The Real Ghostbusters didn't feature Bill Murray as Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Stantz, Harold Ramis as Spengler, or Ernie Hudson as Winston, the ABC show provided some adventures between the end of the first movie and the premiere of the second in 1989. That alone gave fans of the franchise a good reason to tune in.
The Real Ghostbusters also debuted in the era when animation was experiencing a resurgence, although the movies of the Disney Renaissance and '90s shows like Batman: The Animated Series generally receive more credit. The seven seasons, which spanned 1986-1991 and nearly 150 episodes, proved that The Real Ghostbusters found a format that worked for audiences early on.
A lot of that is likely due to how the show used the movie characters, even without the live-action stars voicing them for TV. The Real Ghostbusters also didn't have as much canon to stick with in the late '80s. At the time, the franchise had gone no further than the first and second movies. The Real Ghostbusters found a sweet spot for its time, and the result was a show that's still worth checking out today, four decades after the original release.
The show is available streaming now via The Roku Channel and Tubi. The series was followed up by a second show, called Extreme Ghostbusters, although it only ran for a single season in 1997. The question is whether Ghostbusters: Night Shift will be as successful as The Real Ghostbusters, or flop in comparison like Extreme Ghostbusters.
What To Expect From Netflix's Ghostbusters: Night Shift
Ghostbusters: Night Shift will be set in 1994, five years after the events of Ghostbusters II. According to Netflix, "a group of scrappy New Yorkers must suit up, face their fears, and bust some ghosts" after New York City is hit by a new supernatural threat. Dan Aykroyd is on board the show as an executive producer, as well as Jason Reitman, the son of the late Ivan Reitman, who directed three of the franchise's five movies so far. Speaking with Deadline about the project, Reitman shared:
We said that if Ghostbusters is going to step back into animation, it had to be as funny as anything you’ve ever seen in Ghostbusters, and as scary as anything you’ve ever seen in Ghostbusters.
Amie Karp, another executive producer, explained that the question going into Night Shift was whether the team could "make an animated series that is in canon," while showrunner Elliot Kahan shed some light on how the show will actually accomplish it:
It was about trying to capture the tone of the original movies and newer movies so it feels like our characters could walk off the television, onto a movie screen and interact with the pre-existing characters if they wanted to. The Ghostbusters movies are miracles. They have a very specific tone and they care about the characters, who are so charismatic to be around. We wanted to try to capture that tone in all aspects.
No casting announcements have been confirmed at the time of writing, but it's a safe bet that the group described as "scrappy New Yorkers" will be new to the world of busting ghosts. That doesn't necessarily mean Night Shift will be completely devoid of familiar characters, however, and it's conceivable that Dan Aykroyd could lend his voice as Ray Stantz for a cameo. Unfortunately, Netflix has not yet confirmed when Ghostbusters: Night Shift will arrive, other than that subscribers can expect the premiere at some point in 2027.
